Grammar Pulis

Creative Signs for the Work-Hard-Party-Harder set


“Honey, will get home late tonight.” And then the volume of his voice goes down to a whisper, “Overtime.” Of course, you say, “Sure. Don’t work too hard, honey.”

When you’re as good a listener as I am, you pay very close attention to the enunciation of your spouse’s words. Did he say, overtime? Or did he just say Obeertime? Note the difference between the sounds of the consonants b and v.

Obeertime is a restaurant slash beer pub (now undergoing renovation) along Pasong Tamo St. According to my husband, they serve some of the best barbecues in town. I have to take his word for it, because I have not yet done extra work in there. Bad lighting and probably not the most conducive place for checking test papers. I am just amused by places with names like this. I appreciate the wit and the play on words. And I’m sure those who need creative excuses for post work inebriation appreciate them too.

Less than a kilometer away is a place that picks up on the theme. D’Boss. “Honey, will get home late tonight. I will go to the boss.” Again, if you’re very astute, you’ll notice that your honey used the wrong preposition. If he really had official business with his boss, he should have said, I will go with the boss. And he should pronounce the article “the” using a soft th sound, not the d sound that some Filipinos use.

And then, there is this:

“Honey, will get home late tonight. I will pass by the job site.”

Be very careful, my dear readers. Listen carefully. Your hardworking husband just might be inputting alcoholic beverages instead of encoding data.